Petition Letter
To whom may concern,
Due to extenuating circumstances beyond my control, due to severe illness carried throughout the 2017-2018 school year, I believe my grades were impacted tremendously, and are not an accurate representation of my academic capabilities. Before starting University in 2017 I woke up to a throat that had closed. I was rushed to the ER and a large mass was found in my throat. Prior to being taken to the hospital, I was misdiagnosed twice for different throat infections, by two Medical professionals and was given 3 rounds of antibiotics to kill these infections that were misdiagnosed. When I was taken in the hospital, the mass had to be removed, and later grew back over 8 times throughout the school year. Due to school, I was unable to go to the doctor to get all eight removed, and had to deal with the symptoms until the mass got smaller. The doctors did not know why the cyst/mass kept growing back, but no antibiotics would take it away. The mass prevented me from eating, swallowing, exercising, talking, breathing, and sleeping properly. As a result, I found it very difficult to focus on my studies, submit lab reports, go to class when I was so exhausted from being at the hospital multiple days in a row to continuously get the mass removed. Every hospital and visit with the throat specialist ended up with me leaving with an even stronger antibiotic. Since August 18th, I have been on over 15 rounds of antibiotics, which then caused the significant problems in my studies. Because the antibiotics killed all of the 'good' bacteria in my body, I suffered over 11 other infections within the school year, that were not related to my throat. My body had no fight left in me and I encountered the stomach flu on over 10 occasions while dealing with the multiple infections in other areas of my body. Each infection led to another, due to the antibiotics. This put a huge strain on my body and kept me from sleeping, getting proper nutrients to fuel my body, and negatively impacted my mental health. I was told I needed surgery for my throat in October, but was in the middle of midterms, and could not afford to miss 4 weeks of school for recovery. I had to study content, submit lab reports, essays, attend tutorials, when I really should have been at the hospital. Exam season 1st semester was extremely hard for me because I was the sickest I had ever been in my life, having the stomach flu, huge mass on my throat preventing me from swallowing and made it very hard to breathe. I could barely study for my exams because I could not leave the restroom for more than 10 minutes, and I couldn't eat/sleep due to the enlarged throat. My parents came to help me as much as they could, but at this point it was too late and I couldn't pull myself together to study for the exams. Because of my severe physical illness, my mental illness took a large turn for the worst, and led to significant anxiety because of the feeling of unpreparedness for the exams. I was defeated when I received my first semester final marks and knew that they were no where close to reflecting my real academic capabilities. I also am on the Varsity Pom Team, and volunteer for over 3 charities affiliated with Kingston, I also research in a surgical foundations lab at McMaster University, and work alongside the surgical residents, these commitments took an extra strain on my body. In second semester, my symptoms heightened and this is when I encountered the greatest pain, as my throat and lower body were in constant sharp pain due to the multiple infections. In high school I trained 25 hours a week competitively in dance, and travelled around the world winning many national competitions, and took a full course load at school receiving all marks above a 90, most above 95. I have torn multiple muscles, and had hip surgeries, but I can truly say that the stress and pain that I encountered in high school dancing these crazy hours till 12am, and studying till 4am for tests the next day, does not even come close to the physical, and mental pain as well as stress that I encountered in first year here at Queen's University. As a result of my poor physical and mental health, my grades truly suffered. Now that it is summer, I have received the proper surgery, my body infections have completely cleared up, and my mental health has hit an all-time high. I hope to continuously take care of my body, and return second year strong, showing Queen's Science Department my true intelligence and all that I have to offer to the school. I have have supporting documentations for all the yearly visits at the university clinic, Hospital ER and other doctor visits supporting my case, that I will release upon request, but for confidentiality purposes as of right now did not include them, but a single, precise, doctors note that sums up all the information needed. Also, due to confidentiality, I did not choose to plead my case to each of the three professors, as I did not feel comfortable releasing this private health information... with that being said it was hard to plead a case with no information I felt comfortable releasing to back it up. However, now that marks are final and there is no course work left for grading, I do not mind for this private information to be released to professors for decision making.
Kindest regards,
Tianna Murray
Due to extenuating circumstances beyond my control, due to severe illness carried throughout the 2017-2018 school year, I believe my grades were impacted tremendously, and are not an accurate representation of my academic capabilities. Before starting University in 2017 I woke up to a throat that had closed. I was rushed to the ER and a large mass was found in my throat. Prior to being taken to the hospital, I was misdiagnosed twice for different throat infections, by two Medical professionals and was given 3 rounds of antibiotics to kill these infections that were misdiagnosed. When I was taken in the hospital, the mass had to be removed, and later grew back over 8 times throughout the school year. Due to school, I was unable to go to the doctor to get all eight removed, and had to deal with the symptoms until the mass got smaller. The doctors did not know why the cyst/mass kept growing back, but no antibiotics would take it away. The mass prevented me from eating, swallowing, exercising, talking, breathing, and sleeping properly. As a result, I found it very difficult to focus on my studies, submit lab reports, go to class when I was so exhausted from being at the hospital multiple days in a row to continuously get the mass removed. Every hospital and visit with the throat specialist ended up with me leaving with an even stronger antibiotic. Since August 18th, I have been on over 15 rounds of antibiotics, which then caused the significant problems in my studies. Because the antibiotics killed all of the 'good' bacteria in my body, I suffered over 11 other infections within the school year, that were not related to my throat. My body had no fight left in me and I encountered the stomach flu on over 10 occasions while dealing with the multiple infections in other areas of my body. Each infection led to another, due to the antibiotics. This put a huge strain on my body and kept me from sleeping, getting proper nutrients to fuel my body, and negatively impacted my mental health. I was told I needed surgery for my throat in October, but was in the middle of midterms, and could not afford to miss 4 weeks of school for recovery. I had to study content, submit lab reports, essays, attend tutorials, when I really should have been at the hospital. Exam season 1st semester was extremely hard for me because I was the sickest I had ever been in my life, having the stomach flu, huge mass on my throat preventing me from swallowing and made it very hard to breathe. I could barely study for my exams because I could not leave the restroom for more than 10 minutes, and I couldn't eat/sleep due to the enlarged throat. My parents came to help me as much as they could, but at this point it was too late and I couldn't pull myself together to study for the exams. Because of my severe physical illness, my mental illness took a large turn for the worst, and led to significant anxiety because of the feeling of unpreparedness for the exams. I was defeated when I received my first semester final marks and knew that they were no where close to reflecting my real academic capabilities. I also am on the Varsity Pom Team, and volunteer for over 3 charities affiliated with Kingston, I also research in a surgical foundations lab at McMaster University, and work alongside the surgical residents, these commitments took an extra strain on my body. In second semester, my symptoms heightened and this is when I encountered the greatest pain, as my throat and lower body were in constant sharp pain due to the multiple infections. In high school I trained 25 hours a week competitively in dance, and travelled around the world winning many national competitions, and took a full course load at school receiving all marks above a 90, most above 95. I have torn multiple muscles, and had hip surgeries, but I can truly say that the stress and pain that I encountered in high school dancing these crazy hours till 12am, and studying till 4am for tests the next day, does not even come close to the physical, and mental pain as well as stress that I encountered in first year here at Queen's University. As a result of my poor physical and mental health, my grades truly suffered. Now that it is summer, I have received the proper surgery, my body infections have completely cleared up, and my mental health has hit an all-time high. I hope to continuously take care of my body, and return second year strong, showing Queen's Science Department my true intelligence and all that I have to offer to the school. I have have supporting documentations for all the yearly visits at the university clinic, Hospital ER and other doctor visits supporting my case, that I will release upon request, but for confidentiality purposes as of right now did not include them, but a single, precise, doctors note that sums up all the information needed. Also, due to confidentiality, I did not choose to plead my case to each of the three professors, as I did not feel comfortable releasing this private health information... with that being said it was hard to plead a case with no information I felt comfortable releasing to back it up. However, now that marks are final and there is no course work left for grading, I do not mind for this private information to be released to professors for decision making.
Kindest regards,
Tianna Murray